the prom is bigger than we are.
it is a tradition that most of us pass through
and, for a night, it transforms us.
the ritual begins with the donning of costumes;
guys don the armor of indicate rented tuxedos,
girls wrap themselves in expensive new dresses.
each will take the other a flower of some sort
and, pinning them upon each other, they are bound for the night.
as soon as she answered the door,
finding him hiding his nervousness on her doorstep,
they slipped into the role of the archetypal prom couple.
they are no longer themselves, they are their expectations.
and, like Cinderella with the clock ticking, they head off for the ball.